Most Shanghai industrial metals retreat from hefty gains as shine comes off steel

SYDNEY — Most Chinese base metals futures were lower on Monday as investors took profits following hefty gains last week.

Metals linked with steel markets — nickel, zinc and lead — recorded the biggest losses, with only copper in positive territory.

“We’re seeing a pullback from last week in step with steel, and with the LME closed, there’s some loss in direction,” a commodities trader in Sydney said, referring to the London Metal Exchange.

Monday is a market holiday in Britain and the LME was closed.

The most traded Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) zinc contract dropped by more than 2% to 25,565 yuan ($3,846) a ton by 0100 GMT. Zinc is used chiefly in steel galvanizing.

ShFE nickel fell 1.80%, while lead lost 2.30%. Nickel is used in stainless steel.

The most- traded rebar on the ShFE was down by more than 2%, after last week clocking its fourth week of gains out of five.

ShFE copper eked out a modest 0.80% gain, building on a robust demand outlook for the metal in China.

But traders said the contract could face some resistance attempting to retrace Friday’s intraday gains that swept the contract to its highest since March 2013.

Copper found support after data showed weekly copper stocks in warehouses registered by the ShFE declined by 8.20% to 187,444 tons.

Meanwhile, on-warrant inventories — those not earmarked for removal — in LME depots have halved to 112,950 tons over the past six weeks.

Anglo- Australian mining giant BHP Billiton is considering selling a 25% interest in its Canadian potash mine project, a stake that could be worth close to $ 2 billion, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. —